What's Up With FSF VP Bradley M. Kuhn?

There's more to the Free Software Foundation than Richard M. Stallman, you know. Like bkuhn, AKA Bradley M. Kuhn, who has been a full-time employee of the organization since February '01 and has taken over some of the duties that were previously RMS's exclusive province. Got a question for bkuhn about the FSF -- or anything else? Post it below. We'll select 10 of the highest-moderated questions, forward them to bkuhn, and post his replies as soon as we get them back.

"Raving Lunatic" Image?

In spite of all of RMS's great understanding of the working of "Free Software", and his passion for promoting real Freedom, he has unfortunately picked up this image of a foaming-at-the-mouth raving lunatic pinko. How to you plan to combat this image, without compromising on the real issues behind Free Software, or the passion with which the FSF promotes these ideals?

Next big technical effort?

Congratuations on the release of version 3.0 of the GNU Compiler Collection. This is the cumulation of a lot of work by contributors to the GNU project from all over the world.

What do you see as the GNU project's next big release? Mono and DotGNU? Bayonne? Something else?

FSF and the cause.

What is your stance on Software protection? In the FSF stance, what would you do or reccomend to be done if (check that if, WHEN) a GNU program and programmer is attacked in a way that will be very like what we see with Dimitri. Many of the GNU programs and software packages are, as far as I am concerned, in real danger of being attacked or persecuted by large corperations. With laws like the DCMA and other unbelievable laws that are being drafted as bills every day, What do you think can be done to protect this freedom?

GPL for web-apps

As both Bruce Perens and Tim O'Reilly have pointed out, it is possible to publicly deploy a web-app that is derived from GPL'd software without having to distribute your modifications.

While I certainly feel that it should be possible to do this for applications that are deployed internally without having the deployment count as 'distribution', I am less happy about deployments on public websites. I would want web-applications that I create to have an additional 'public-performance' clause in their license that would require modifications that are publicly deployed to be made available in source form.

This is the so called 'web-app loophole', and I was wondering what your thoughts on the matter were?

Consumer space?

The common answer to "How do I make money writing free/open source software?" is generally "give the code away, but sell the service." Great, but what about those products that don't rely on service contracts?

For corporate consulting, and business to business software, I can see the financial viability of working only with GPLed software. But, that is not the only segment of the software industry. For the average consumer (read: home user, non-geek, non-businessman, "where is the any key" 90% of the computer-using world), any program that requires "service" means calling tech support, which is a bad thing. If you need support, the program is flawed in their eyes. So how does one make money in the consumer market? Custom add-ons are a market that can support maybe 3 people. How can one make money writing, say, a computer game if it's GPLed? If you have to get support for a game, something is wrong. How could a company like Blizzard, Id, or other game companies big and small survive with GPLed software? Then there's the thousands of independent shareware authors for whom selling the software at a few bucks to a lot of people is their bread and butter. How can they make money by writing GPLed software instead?

I am not against the GPL, far from it. But I am still uncertain as to how it maps into the half of the market that deals with end users rather than businesses. Considering that is the industry that I wish to go into, I am faced with the moral dilema of supporting Free Software on the one hand morally, but also needing to find a way to feed myself. What do you suggest as a way to be both morally secure and financially secure in the other half of the market?

Larry Garfield

At home?

So, what types of software do you use at home?

New term for "Free"?

Is the FSF brainstorming any ideas on alternatives to the term "Free"? Unlike many other languages, it seems that English does not have separate words for "without cost" and "having freedom". So, we in the Open Source community end up using phrases such as "free as in beer" or "Free with a capital 'F'" (neither of which are immediately intuitive to the public at large).

Much better, I think, would be to come up with a new adjective to describe such Free software ("Free" with a capital "F", that is). One idea that has been batted about is "liberated software", but that has the connotation of "stolen software" [dictionary.com] to some people. Of course, this isn't to say that the term "Free" wouldn't be used anymore -- but it would be nice to have an alternative for use at, for example, picnics or family gatherings.

How has the techslump affected your business plan?

Two years ago, the FSF's business model of giving the product away in order to increase market share was all the rage. The power of the internet had lifted internet stocks into the stratosphere, and the world had attained a pervasive shade of what can only be described as "rosy".

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and so the tech bubble burst. Some key players such as AOL had managed to leverage their inflated stock prices and buy up some meatspace companies like Time/Warner. It doesn't appear the FSF took advantage of whatever opportunity it may have had to do so.

My question is this: how has the collapse of the technology sector changed the FSF's business plan? Companies that formerly gave their products away for free are now charging a price (such as Britanica.com [britanica.com]). Does the FSF have any plans to start charging as well?

Most tech companies have seen massive layoffs with the realization that it is simply not feasible to maintain a hundred/thousand-man developer base. The FSF claims to have a base far in excess of even these most optimistic of companies. Do you have any plans to cut back on your headcount?

And the few companies that haven't actually laid off their staff have asked their programmers to take a big paycut and participate in unpaid-leave programs. Does the FSF plan to follow suit?

I've been running the numbers, and I just can't see how the FSF's small capitalization and dwindling revenues can keep up in the fast-paced cut-throat economy of tomorrow. Will the FSF's ship be steered off its path to destruction? Or are you merely content to stick your collective heads in the sand and hope for the best?

View on freedom?

How do you view FSF's goal, that stated on their website as The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software ---particularly the GNU operating system(used widely today in its GNU/Linux variant)--- and free (as in freedom) documentation.

In particular, how do you interpret what the word free means in respect to software and programmer's rights?

Questions to Craig Mundie

Bradley,

We met at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention. I remember you beeing the first person taking the microphone to ask Craig Mundie some questions during the debate [oreillynet.com]. You invited him to discuss the philosophy behind the GPL compared to the philosophy behind Microsoft's shared-source license.

I wanted to know. Did he accept your invitation? What will you ask him when you two meet face to face?

Haim.

Your opinion on Java

Your perljvm [ebb.org] - The Perl to Java Virtual Machine Compiler is impressive. I believe you've the authority to answer this question.

Sun has its sole control to their Java VM, and the control is extended to other JVM versions. As Richard said, free software build on non-free platform/program is useless to Free World.

We had much expectation on kaffe [kaffe.org]. However, it has halted its development long time ago, since Microsoft made business deals with Transvirtual [linuxjournal.com]. The only free JVM is basically dead now.

I'd like to have your opnion on this: do you have Java in your vision of Free World?

Thanks!

Media Misconceptions

What have your biggest problems been with fighting the misconceptions that free (as in freedom) software is not, as Microsoft seems to have all the media outlets trained to believe, free (as in beer) software? What changes in the media need to occur to help make this line more distinct?

Emacs 21

We've heard a lot about it, and the prerelease of the users manual is out on the web and being checked for typos and such. However, there's no communication with the community at all as to where Emacs 21 currently is, progresswise.

Thus my question -- when will the community find out how Emacs 21 is progressing?

Apple and the FSF

Now that Mac OS X and Darwin are out, Apple obviously has a vested interest in supporting the FSF. They have been trying to get changes to gcc for Altivec support and PPC optimization merged back into the tree, and they are showing at least some support for both Open Source and Free Software. Plus, development of more Cocoa software should in theory lead to better support of GNUStep in the future. With these changes, has the FSF's opinion of/relationship with Apple changed since the boycotting of the '80s, or is it still more or less adversarial?

How can you get the average person to support FSF?

How is the FSF going to compete with microsoft and other closed-source-companies in public relations with the non-tech-savvy masses? Microsoft has legions of corporate and individual clients (and partners in other projects) extolling the virtues of closed-source, and spreading all sorts of vile lies about the Free Software Movement. How do you and Stallman plan to bring the goals and ideology of the FSF to the average person in a way he/she can understand and appreciate? It seems to me that without widespread public support of the FSF, judges and legislatures will tend to support the big corporate interests that (in the case of the legislaters) pay for their campaigns in any conflict, such as a GPL violation case or software laws.

So, how will you rally the non-techie public to the FSF and GPL, dispelling the image of both as the product of socialist, somewhat freaky nerds? And how will you pay for such a campaign?

RMS

How is working with RMS? If compromise is needed does he give in or does he stick to his line no matter what?

Patents and the GPL

If I had mod points I'd be all over this forum in a second. I don't, but I do have some questions that I've been wondering about for a long time.

What about patents and the GPL? Can I release code under the GPL, but limit distribution by encumbering it with patents? What about if I license patents from someone else; under what conditions can I use them in code that I write and release under the GPL? Finally, what happens to code that I release under the GPL, but later discover infringes on patents belonging to someone else?

I've been wondering about this for a long time, first with gif, then mp3, and now Lineo has apparently licensed a patent for their realtime embedded GNU/Linux OS.

Playing by different rules?

What do you think of the current situation with IP rights in the free software movement?

The individual gives up his IP rights but companies still uses them.

You don't control the software you have written but big companies like redhat and IBM is using their trademarked brands to associate Linux products with them in the pulics eyes.

One recent example of this is when Redhat grabbed postgresql and just changed its name to Redhat DB without compensating great bridge (that makes postgresql) for their hard work.

It seems to me that capital strong companies are playing by entire different rules than the people who are developing free software.

The Hurd

Recent comments by RMS and Robert Chessall have not been particularly encouraging (to the GNU/Hurd developers). Do you have anything inspiring to offer them?

What About Other Freedoms?

The Free Software Foundation stands for freedom as it applies to software.

Does the FSF also support the inane freedoms provided by the United States constitution such as the freedom to bear arms?

GPL V3

How do you plan to manage the transistion from GPL v2 to v3? On large projects with hundreds of contributers (e.g., Linux, gcc, emacs, Gnome, KDE) it seems next to impossible to get approval from all contributers. Without approval, is is possible to re-license? If it is not possible to re-license, will it be necessary to reimplement large portions of the GNU codebase before v3 makes any difference?